Bobby Bosler: Welcome to the V Generation podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler and I’m speaking to you here today from Memphis, Tennessee. And yet our guest here today is actually coming to you all the way from Sydney, Australia.

When Ryan Swanson was doing his internship over in Australia, he had an opportunity to interview our guest, Bobby Wasif. And he’s here sharing his testimony with us. And young people, I want you to listen because I don’t know about you.

Every one of us has a story. And not only do every one of us have a story, but we also can intersect with the story of others. And this testimony is a testimony of a searching heart of some godly friends who wanted to share the truth and of a changed life.

So, Bobby, why don’t you share what you’ve got for us here today?

Bobby Wasif: Yeah, thanks for that. So just briefly about me, my name is Bobby Wasif. I’ve grown up pretty much in Sydney all my life, and the Lord’s obviously saved me.

But in terms of where I began, I’m Egyptian background and I grew up in an Orthodox church where week in, week out, I was told do things and just hope at the end of the day that we can be with the Lord. And at that time, I was actually contemplating on what my life was for. And I came to the conclusion that I was a sinner and I knew I was on my way to hell.

I knew I was a bad person, but I didn’t know that I could get to heaven by God’s grace. And I actually met a friend of mine who was a colleague at the time, and she introduced me to a church. And before that, I happened to be out there with them going for lunch.

And when they ate, they actually prayed before they ate. And I made the comment of basically saying that, oh, that’s funny. Like, that’s cute that you pray before you eat.

And after that, it basically came down to them asking me questions and challenging me with the Word of God and saying, well, do you know where you’re going to spend eternity? The Bible says this and you do this. And it came to the conclusion where I was challenged with verses from Scripture.

And I ended up going back to my priest, which is what my original beliefs were. And when I spoke to him, I asked him to just show me, give me some evidence so that way I can say I’m remaining faithful to my tradition and my Orthodox beliefs. And he basically, many times he said to me, don’t worry about it.

They’re devils. They’re bad people. And I ended up saying, after many times I ended up saying, look, at least give me something.

Like, can I defend the faith because I’m Orthodox and I’ve been doing this for so long? And eventually he told me constantly that they’re bad people, they’re devils, don’t trust them, stay away from them. And I actually ended up asking him about the KJV Bible, if it was okay.

And he said, yeah, there’s nothing wrong with the KJV. So what I did, I started, I managed to pick one up from the church and started to read it. And before you know it, I started leaving my church.

And I ended up going to the local church here in Sydney. And before you know it, the Lord was working on my heart and I was seeking him and I sought him. And I basically asked him, Lord, what would you have me to do?

And I was humbly seeking the Lord and came to realisation that, yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I can’t save myself. And I was doing many things for the sake of religious duty.

It wasn’t to have a relationship with the Lord. And at that point in time, I realized that I’m just a filthy, rotten sinner and there’s nothing I can do that can save me. And basically that I was definitely on my way to hell if I didn’t have a savior.

And many times I came and I spoke to people from the church and they were showing me passages how I could know that I could have eternal life when I died. And at that point, I said to myself, Lord, I don’t know what it is, but I know that you want me to live for you and I know that you will reveal yourself to me and you’ll show me the truth and you’ll work in me.

So on the 31st of December in 2016, I came to the conclusion where I was just saying, Lord, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go to that church. I want you to make it clear to me that this is where you’d have me to be and this is your will for me.

And on that night, I trusted Christ as my saviour. And I basically, many people actually, sometimes they deal with the convictions differently. And some people have a transformation straight away where certain sins in their lives, like swearing or even music or watching movies and watching inappropriate content, all that sort of stuff.

Some people don’t get convicted about those things up front, but for me, even it came down to swearing where the Lord had worked on me and he placed a burden in my heart that that was sin and it was wrong and it was against him. Basically, I had turned away from those things by God’s grace and he continued to work in me and he continues to conform me into the image of his son.

Even till today, there’s many things that I’ve been struggling with in the past that he’s also done in my life and he’s changed me and he’s allowed me to be a better witness for him and to be that light and darkness even in the workplace. But most recently in the last two to three months, I’ve actually been struggling. Since I was saved, I’ve been struggling with speeding.

And even to that point where it didn’t bother me about speeding, I knew it was wrong and I knew it wasn’t pleasing to the Lord. But I always tried to do things in my own strength. And I always wanted to say to myself, you know, I can stop this and I can work on my own terms.

And when I came to the conclusion that I was struggling and I was always falling short of God’s glory and God’s holy expectations, and I couldn’t do this on my own, I sought the Lord for a very long time. And I said to him, Lord, I can’t do this on my own. And it’s only by your grace that when you saved me, that grace that saved me is what I can continue trusting in.

And when I had put my 100% trust in him, I decided nothing I can do can help me stop that conviction or that error of sin in terms of the speeding. I gave it all to him and little by little he worked on my heart. And it’s been now a couple of months and I don’t speed.

And even slightly sometimes if I go over the limit, it’s basically a position where I feel I’ve let the Lord down. And I do get burdened by it. And I need to repent.

But even today, I’ve been blessed by it. And I feel to myself that God’s grace is sufficient for me. And that he’s always going to continue working in me.

And we need to always keep trusting in him. And we trusted in him for our salvation. Surely we can trust him for everything else.

and the day that we trust him fully with our whole heart and surrender everything to him and say, Lord, it’s all you, it’s not me, is the day that we can have eternity in heaven with him. And when I trusted the Lord for that conviction that I had, it was then that I had victory over it. And it wasn’t me that had the victory, it was him working through me.

And by God’s grace today I don’t speed and many things that I struggle with, the Lord continues to work in me and he blesses me. So in conclusion, I just want to encourage you all to keep trusting in the Lord and also I want to challenge you to keep trusting in his grace that saves us and we can either give him all of our life or we can give him none of it. We can’t go 50-50.

Someone once said that you’ve got a throne in your heart and you’ve also got a cross. And either Christ is on the throne and you’re on the cross, or you’re on the throne and Christ is on the cross. You can’t have it both ways, but we need to ensure that Christ is on the throne and we’re on the cross.

And we’re dead to self and living for him. Amen, Bobby. Thank you so much for that.

Young people, I want you to know there are seeking hearts all around you every day. Please do not go throughout your life just focusing on yourself and your own things, but keep an eye out for those opportunities because it very well could be that God could use you to reach someone like Bobby who’s searching for the truth. One other thing I want to mention, don’t forget, the VGeneration Youth Summit registration is now open, coming this October 16-18, 2019.

Please make sure you check out the Youth Summit page, and thank you so much for listening. We’ll see you later. you